Relational trauma, related to early childhood traumatic experiences in relationships with caregivers, usually parents, significantly affects the overall functioning of a person in adulthood. It may also contribute to the occurrence of neurotic disorders and/or personality disorders. The ICD-11 classification introduces a new diagnosis related to the experience of relational trauma, i.e., "complex post-traumatic stress disorder - complex PTSD" (6B41, complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, cPTSD). It is a separate nosological unit from PTSD (6B40) (ICD-11, 2022).
Relational trauma therapy should differ from that recommended in PTSD, as it often happens that the "burden of the past" affects the present. Existential psychotherapy may be an effective form of treatment. The Existential Analysis, Alfried Längle's theory of motivation, can be used to treat people who have experienced relational trauma and meet the criteria of cPTSD diagnosis. The project will analyze the impact of a new group therapeutic intervention - 4FM Acceptance Training - on improving existential fulfilment, increasing basic hope, and reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression. 4FM Acceptance Training is the intervention including self-regulatory strategies and trauma-focused interventions.
The obtained results will allow for the assessment of: dissemination of relational trauma, alexithymia, dissociation, somatoform dissociation in the context of the attachment style among people with mental disorders. Thus, they will contribute to the verification of the hypothesis of relational trauma as an important etiological factor of personality disorders and / or neurotic disorders; the usefulness of the 4FM Acceptance group training in the therapy of people with relational trauma and cPTSD.